The author investigated two famous objects of lacquer in the Heian Period (794-1185 A.D.) by x-ray radiography and microscopic examination: a sutra box owned by the Fujita Museum, Osaka and a sutra box owned by the Nara National Museum. Both boxes are decorated in <i>Maki-e which is a special technique using metal particles, mostly gold particles, and Japanese lacquer, <irushi. The metal particles in the <i>Maki-e pictures of both boxes, judging from their shapes, are of the type belonging to the period before A.D. 1125. From the results obtained in the investigation, the author estimated the age of these objects to be around A.D. 1000. -- AATA